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Comfort nursing & OALD

Hi all,

My LO is 5 weeks old and she's EBF. I've searched through the forums and I think my LO is having issue with OALD. I don't spray everywhere but she latches on & off during letdown & milk leaks & pools around her mouth. She also sputters & chokes on my milk. I've tried just offering one breast per feeding for 1-2 week with no improvement...semi reclined position only works occasionally & have done manual expression during let down with some relief. I know she's getting enough because she has 6-7 wet diapers per day. I breastfeed her on demand & let her stay on the breast for as long as she wants it. The problem, I think, is after she's full (usually after 15-20 min of feeding) she wants to continue to suck for comfort but milk continues to come out so she gets frustrated & become extra fussy. Any ideas/tips on what I can do other than waiting it out & doing what I've already done so far? It's so frustrating to see her crying, latching and unlatching cycle. It gets difficult to calm her down afterwards & put her to sleep. She yawns and wants to go to sleep but she can't because she still wants to suck on my breast & I think it frustrates her because milk continues to come out. Any tips/advice would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

Re: Comfort nursing & OALD

Hi really the best I can offer is-it gets better, I have gone though this with 3 babies. Keep doing what works even if it only sometimes works. Milk production typically starts leveling off to 'normal' after about 6 weeks so you should see improvement soon.

The key for me has always been extremely frequent nursing, as often as possible. The typical amount for a newborn to nurse is 10-12 times per 24, so with forceful letdown you may well want to nurse more often than that. I even set my alarm overnight so I never went more than 2-3 hours even at night without nursing. During the day baby nursed every hour if not more often. Laid back also worked great for me, it takes time and practice to get comfortable, remember all it means is that you are relaxed back and supported. You do not have to be WAY back. just a bit is fine. Amnd baby cna be in ANY position.

What about sidelynig?

For the comforting time maye you can try offering your pinky (nail trimmed, pad side up) if the breast is too frustrating for her. Or you can try comforting her wiht your pinky for a bit and then see if she will come back to the breast.

Re: Comfort nursing & OALD

Thank you for responding. I'm holding on and hoping that it'll get better soon.
I haven't tried sidelying yet because I'm afraid of accidentally falling asleep during feeding and rolling over her.
Thanks again.